A recently retired Army colonel, who played a key role in the war on terror, has been indicted in an ongoing bribery scandal involving contracts at the United States Special Operations Command (SOCom), which is based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa Florida.

The indictment accuses the retired colonel, Tom Spellissy, with five counts of wire fraud, bribery and conspiracy to defraud the United States (St. Petersburg Times). Prosecutors say Spellissy created a consulting firm and paid the SOCom official in charge of equipping special operations forces, thousands of dollars to give companies he represents preferential treatment.

That SOCom official, William Burke, pleaded guilty to bribery and has agreed to cooperate with investigators.

SOCom oversees the nation’s elite commandos and is leading the war on terror. Since the September 11 attacks its budget has gone from $3.8 billion to $6.6 billion and staff levels have increased by 6,000 to 51,441.